http://austinbay.net/blog/?p=643 Astros Win-Astros Win- Cold War Over Let me explain the headline. I have a Houston Colt 45 s pennant in my office, which I bought at Colt Stadium in 1963. The Colts-Astros have been ne’er do-wells throughout my life. After the debacle in 1980, when the Astros lost to the Phillies in the National League championship playoff, I wondered which would come first– the end of the Cold War or an Astros pennant. I believed the West would win the Cold War, sometime in the 21st century. The Cold War ended in 1989. The Astros won a pennant in 2005. (Hmmm. Cold War: 1945-1989, forty-four years; first Astros pennant 1962-2005, forty-four seasons…) A fanstastic finish? Yes. But the Astros –as the world knows by now– were 15 and 30 at the end of May. They were dead. The baseball cliche, “Never say die,” proves to be a baseball truth. There is no clock, only outs and innings. No doubt this Astros team benefited from the playoff scheme and the “wild card” berth, but the 1998 Astros team won 102 games and lost to teams with weaker season records. That’s modern baseball — division organizations and playoffs. Roy Oswalt is the championship series MVP. He should be. Oswalt — if he were playing in New York of LA — would be the “new Clemens” in terms of media kudos and adulation. Actually, he is the new Clemens– ask Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite. Go ‘Stros.
One more time, what I screamd all 8th inning... QUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Seriously, that was the most awesome, vicious K I have laid eyes on in a long time. It was a haymaker as strong as Pujols's awesome herculean dinger the other night. That K goes down with every Mike Scott and Nolan Ryan K in Astros history, and possibly a notch above it.
